Quinoa Bean and Corn Salad

This salad is simple, easy and delicious. I created this because I was trying to include more whole foods in my diet.

Start by cooking the quinoa. I cooked my quinoa in my rice cooker! It was easy. Portion out 1 cup of quinoa and add 2 cups of water. You can add or reduce the amount of quinoa in the salad. Just make sure you cook the quinoa in a 1:2 ratio (1 part quinoa to 2 parts water).

To add a bit of flavour to the quinoa, I added a teaspoon of Hondashi powder. This is a bonito soup stock and gives it a rich umami taste.

While the quinoa is cooking, prepare the rest of the salad. You will need 1 cup of cherry tomatoes (cut in half), 1 cup of corn and 1 can of beans. Try to get beans that are low in sodium. I used a mixture of chickpeas and broad beans but you can use your favourites. The other item you need is cilantro. I like a lot of it so I used a generous bunch (about 3/4 cup) roughly chopped.

The spices I used was cumin and paprika. I used about 1 tablespoon of each. Season everything with salt and pepper to taste.

Mix everything together and serve!! Enjoy with a side of fish or by itself.